‘Here We Go Again’: Pelosi, Schiff Plot New Probe of Trump; Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal

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By Washington Times. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spent the last three-plus years investigating President Trump, and each time, she’s come up empty. . .

Mrs. Pelosi announced last week that she is setting up a select House committee to “assure that the taxpayer dollars are being wisely and efficiently spent” — but the California Democrat also said she wants to “examine all aspects of the federal response to the coronavirus.” . . .

Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who led the failed impeachment process, on Friday proposed the establishment of a bipartisan commission — also with subpoena power — to investigate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Schiff, another California Democrat, wants to set up a “9/11-style commission” of 10 lawmakers to review the administration’s actions and probe the government’s preparedness in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. . .

Imagine that. Imagine lawmakers calling federal health officials off the front lines and into the House chambers to answer a bunch of biased questions, including “What did Trump know and when did he know it?” (Read more from “‘Here We Go Again’: Pelosi, Schiff Plot New Probe of Trump” HERE)

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Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal

By The Independent. Democrats are in no rush to furnish additional funds for the Treasury Department’s new small business paycheck protection programme (PPP), which received more than $350 billion from Congress last month.

“They still have two-thirds of it left. So we have time to negotiate how or when or where we need money there,” speaker Nancy Pelosi said of the initial funding for PPP, which has already lent out more than $100bn to help small companies deal with the coronavirus pandemic, roughly 30 percent of its initial allotment from Congress.

The last time Ms Pelosi spoke to Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has been the Trump administration’s lead negotiator on coronavirus response legislation, was Tuesday.

“No, I have not spoken to the secretary today,” the speaker said.

Ms Pelosi has acknowledged that Congress’ next bill responding to the health crisis will not include more wide-ranging Democratic priorities such as a sweeping infrastructure package. It may not immediately extend some provisions from the $2.2trn “CARES Act” that will provide direct cash payments of $1,200 to most American taxpayers. Negotiations for those Democratic wish-list items will come down the line. (Read more from “Pelosi in No Rush on Next Coronavirus Stimulus Deal” HERE)

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Democrats Say Voting Is Undemocratic (VIDEO)

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Democrats are livid that Wisconsin held an election on Tuesday. DNC chairman Tom Perez said, “This was a dark day for our democracy.”

The Democrat governor tried to use the COVID-19 panic to postpone the election. Both the Supreme Court and the state Supreme Court ruled against him in different aspects of his attempt to rewrite state election law. . .

Perez is all upset. He said, “This was a dark day for our democracy. In the middle of one of the worst public health emergencies in modern history, the Republican Party forced the people of Wisconsin to choose between their safety and their vote. The craven self-interest of the GOP knows no bounds.”

Rolling Stone called voting in Wisconsin an “aggressive voter disenfranchisement methods during a pandemic that will force citizens to decide between their health and their right to vote.” (Read more from “Democrats Say Voting Is Undemocratic (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Treasury Secretary Says U.S. Could Be Open for Business in May

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he believed it was possible that the U.S. could open back up next month.

“I do, Jim,” Mnuchin said after CNBC’s Jim Cramer asked about reopening the economy in May. The comments came during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” . . .

The Treasury secretary said that the administration was doing “everything necessary that American companies and American workers can be open for business and that they have the liquidity that they need to operate their business in the interim.” . . .

President Donald Trump said last month that he hoped that Americans would be able to pack churches by Easter, though the administration later released guidelines calling for social distancing to continue at least through the end of April. Trump declined to provide a date for a reopening during a White House briefing on Wednesday.

Trump is already stepping up efforts to reopen the economy. The president is planning to create a second task force designed to focus on the response to the economic devastation that COVID-19 has wrought, a senior administration official told NBC News. (Read more from “Treasury Secretary Says U.S. Could Be Open for Business in May” HERE)

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China Holds Navy Drills in Pacific as U.S. Aircraft Carriers Hit by Coronavirus; China Claims Zero Infections in Its Military

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By Newsweek. The Chinese navy recently launched a series of naval drills to shore up its coastal capabilities in the Pacific, a region where China’s goals frequently clash with those of the United States.

The move comes as U.S. aircraft carriers suffered from outbreaks of the novel coronavirus disease that has already infected hundreds of sailors.

The People’s Liberation Army deployed Type 22 missile boats to the East Sea for four days of live-fire exercises late last month involving warfighting scenarios that an unnamed military expert told the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper on Thursday were designed to boost the vessels’ coast combat skills. Maneuvers also reportedly involved countermine, damage control and rescue operations.

The Type 22 fleet, dubbed “HOUBEI-class wave-piercing catamaran missile patrol boats” by the Pentagon, is designed to use stealth and speed to overcome much larger targets such as aircraft carriers, the premier symbol of U.S. power projection across the globe. In the Pacific, the U.S. has deployed aircraft carriers and advanced naval assets to challenge China’s vast territorial claims. (Read more from “China Holds Navy Drills in Pacific as U.S. Aircraft Carriers Hit by Coronavirus” HERE)

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China Claims Zero Infections in Its Military

By VOA News. While militaries around the world are seeing their soldiers fall victim to the coronavirus, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing army, claims it remains virus-free.

“China Confirms No Cases of Coronavirus Infection in Military,” said a headline in an official military publication on March 3. There has been no public update on military infections since.

In addition to its 2 million-strong active-duty military troops, the country also has an 800,000-strong armed police force. During the height of the crisis, tens of thousands of soldiers, medics and support personnel were deployed into some of the most infected areas of China, including Wuhan, to fight on the front lines. (Read more from “China Claims Zero Infections in Its Military” HERE)

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Hospital Stops Hydroxychloroquine Treatment Over Major Cardiac Risk; NIH Begins Trial to Test Hydroxychloroquine for Treating COVID-19

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By Newsweek. A hospital in France has had to stop an experimental treatment using hydroxychloroquine on at least one coronavirus patient after it became a “major risk” to their cardiac health.

The University Hospital Center of Nice (CHU de Nice) is one of many hospitals trialing hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients. It announced it had been selected for the trial on March 22. A statement from the hospital said it was testing four experimental treatments, one of which included hydroxychloroquine. It hoped to establish its effectiveness and side effects of this and the other treatments being tested.

In an interview with the French daily newspaper Nice-Matin, Professor Émile Ferrari, the head of the cardiology department at the Pasteur hospital in Nice, said the side effects had already been identified, with some patients having to stop treatment because of the risk posed.

He said electrocardiogram recordings of patients involved with the trial were being constantly monitored. An ECG measures electrical activity in the heart, and represents this on a graph as a QT interval. Ferrari said these recordings are interpreted and, if anomalies are reported, treatment is stopped. (Read more from “Hospital Stops Hydroxychloroquine Treatment Over Major Cardiac Risk” HERE)

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NIH Begins Trial to Test Hydroxychloroquine for Treating COVID-19

By Reuters. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Thursday it was testing anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19, days after several U.S. doctors said they were using the drug on infected patients without evidence that it worked.

The use of the decades-old drug, which has been touted by President Donald Trump as a potential weapon against COVID-19, has soared as the United States has quickly become the epicenter of the pandemic.

The study will evaluate the safety and the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and be conducted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH. (Read more from “NIH Begins Trial to Test Hydroxychloroquine for Treating COVID-19” HERE)

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Fraud Squad: Another Lawsuit to Force Clean-Up of Voter Rolls

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When CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta challenged President Trump’s concern about vote fraud at a White House briefing this week, the president cited a Judicial Watch lawsuit against Los Angeles County after 1.6 million ineligible voters were discovered on its roll.

On Thursday, Judicial Watch announced a new lawsuit, in North Carolina, where many of the state’s 100 counties have a large number of ineligible voters on their rolls.

In the complaint, Judicial Watch argues the states’ own data shows a total of 1 million inactive voters on its rolls. . .

The lawsuit also claims the counties violated the NVRA by failing to make available to Judicial Watch public records concerning efforts to comply with the law.

The law requires the removal of the names of registrants who have failed to respond to an address confirmation notice and then fail to vote in the next two general federal elections. (Read more from “Fraud Squad: Another Lawsuit to Force Clean-Up of Voter Rolls” HERE)

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Barr: Obama Probe of Trump Launched ‘Without Any Basis’ (VIDEO)

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The Obama administration’s counter-intelligence investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign was launched “without any basis,” charged Attorney General William Barr in an interview to air Thursday night.

“What happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history,” he told the Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham.

“Without any basis, they started this investigation of his campaign,” he said.

But “even more concerning,” the attorney general said, “is what happened after the campaign “to sabotage the presidency.”

(Read more from “Barr: Obama Probe of Trump Launched ‘Without Any Basis’ (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Coronavirus Pandemic Creates a New Criminal Class in America; Father Arrested for Playing Outside (VIDEO); Teenager Cited for Leisurely Drive

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By WND. The coronavirus pandemic has created a new class of criminals in America.

Among them are fathers playing T-ball with his young daughter, the hosts of a wedding and a woman out for a drive.

USA Today reported Pennsylvania state police cited 19-year-old Anita Lynn Shaffer for taking a drive. They allege she was in violation of a stay-at-home order for York County, which allows “outdoor activity, such as walking, hiking or running” but only if it’s “essential.” . . .

WND columnist Michelle Malkin wrote about the father in Brighton, Colorado, who was “handcuffed in an empty park by three police officers for playing T-ball with his 6-year-old daughter and wife.”

“While children’s swings and slides are now crime scenes, golf courses and pickleball courts in my city are wide open,” she wrote. “Weed and booze stores are considered ‘essential.’ Ice cream, dessert joints and fast-food outlets with takeout and delivery services are still operating. But family-owned, sit-down restaurants that have been staples in our community have been forced to shut their doors after decades in business.” (Read more from “Coronavirus Pandemic Creates a New Criminal Class in America” HERE)

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Former Police Officer Arrested in Park for Throwing Ball With Daughter Due to Coronavirus Social Distancing Rules

By ABC News. In an incident caught on video, a former Colorado State Patrol trooper said he was handcuffed in front of his 6-year old daughter on a near-empty softball field Sunday by Brighton police officers enforcing social distancing rules. The department apologized Tuesday afternoon, calling the incident an “overreach by our police officers.” . . .

Police arrived soon after, Mooney said, telling him and others in the area to leave because the park was closed.

Mooney said he told officers that he was familiar with the posted rules and believed he and his family were in compliance and practicing proper social distancing. He said he refused to provide his identification when officers asked for it because he had not broken any law.

“Well, they didn’t like that idea. They then proceeded to make a threat against me saying, ‘If you don’t give us your identification, if you don’t identify yourself, we’re going to put you in handcuffs in front of your 6-year-old daughter.'”

Mooney said officers handcuffed him and placed him in a patrol car for about 10 to 15 minutes while they phoned a supervisor for guidance. The incident was captured on cellphone footage by former Brighton City Councilman Kirby Wallin. (Read more from “Former Police Officer Arrested in Park for Throwing Ball With Daughter Due to Coronavirus Social Distancing Rules” HERE)

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Police Cite Woman for Going on Leisurely Drive During Pennsylvania Stay-At-Home Order

By USA Today. Pennsylvania State Police cited 19-year-old Anita Lynn Shaffer for violating a stay-at-home for York County after police say she went a leisurely drive on March 29.

Shaffer is the only person in the Commonwealth to be cited under the state’s disease control and prevention act of 1955, spokesman Ryan Tarkowski said on Friday. Troopers have issued two warnings in other areas of the state.

A leisurely drive is not essential travel, Tarkowski said.

State police initially pulled over Shaffer for a vehicle code violation, Tarkowski said. He declined to give more details, saying it would be inappropriate, but “the trooper’s decision was based on the totality of the circumstances.” . . .

The citation will cost Shaffer more than $200. (Read more from “Police Cite Woman for Going on Leisurely Drive During Pennsylvania Stay-At-Home Order” HERE)

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China Expert: ‘I Don’t Know Why Anyone Takes China’s Epidemic Numbers Seriously’; Beijing Unnerved by Alleged U.S. Attempts to Undermine Chinese Communist Party Legitimacy

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By Fox News. Steven Mosher, author of “Bully of Asia,” joined “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday to discuss China’s alleged coronavirus disinformation campaign and the numbers they are providing of cases and deaths.

“I don’t know why anyone takes China’s epidemic numbers seriously. The Chinese authorities have lied from the beginning of this outbreak. They don’t just fudge the numbers. They make them up out of whole cloth,” Mosher said. “You know, in Wuhan they tell us that from the beginning to the end of the epidemic in Wuhan, it’s not over yet by the way, that 2,535 died. Well, I think the number is more like 50,000. And let me tell you how I get that number. I get that number because the crematory ovens were going for 60 days and we estimate they were disposing of about a thousand corpses a day. That’s 60 thousand people.” . . .

Mosher called the push by China to change the narrative a “massive effort.”

“This is a massive effort on the part of China. It’s not just a few Twitter accounts. It’s thousands and thousands,” Mosher said, noting that the media failed to pick up any negative China stories. “And yet every Chinese embassy, every Chinese media outlet, including Hong Kong Phenix Television, which was in the press conference yesterday with President Trump, they’re all touting the Chinese, the great Chinese success in controlling the coronavirus epidemic when they haven’t controlled it at all. And they spread it around the world.” (Read more from “China Expert: ‘I Don’t Know Why Anyone Takes China’s Epidemic Numbers Seriously'” HERE)

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Beijing Unnerved by Alleged U.S. Attempts to Undermine Chinese Communist Party Legitimacy

By Washington Examiner. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent criticisms of China’s early response to the coronavirus pandemic have flustered Chinese officials, according to U.S. officials and analysts, following a series of rebukes that Beijing regarded as an attempt to split the Chinese Communist Party from the majority of Chinese people.

“That’s the CCP acknowledging that they view that issue as a third rail, and the U.S. should accept the propaganda framework that the party is China and China is the party,” Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Executive Director Marion Smith told the Washington Examiner. “The fact that the regime is so absurdly sensitive about this point reveals their existential dependence on a facade of legitimacy.”

Smith’s assessment came in response to recent Chinese complaints that the State Department is “attempting to drive a wedge between the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people.” That allegation came from a senior Chinese diplomat who began by protesting Pompeo’s crackdown on China’s state-run media operations in the United States but shifted to boasting about Beijing’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the Party’s membership rolls.

“Faced with the horrific spread of COVID-19, the CPC and the Chinese government put people’s life and health as the first priority and left no patients behind,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters Friday. . .

That’s a sign of “arrogance,” though perhaps not anxiety, according to American observers. “I don’t see it so much as being worried as it is arrogance, but it does indicate that some of those comments have hit close to home,” a senior U.S. official told the Washington Examiner. “It is absolutely critical to the survival of the Chinese Communist Party that they maintain the illusion that they somehow embody and speak for the Chinese people.” (Read more from “Beijing Unnerved by Alleged U.S. Attempts to Undermine Chinese Communist Party Legitimacy” HERE)

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As Coronavirus Fears Grow, Doctors and Nurses Face Abuse, Attacks; Nurses Told Not Wear Scrubs Outside of Hospital Due to Abuse Over Coronavirus Fears

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By Washington Post. It’s hard enough being a doctor in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But Sanjibani Panigrahi, a psychiatrist at a government hospital in western India, now finds her own neighbors turning against her.

“We are sure you have corona,” one woman recently shrieked at her, she says, — part of a torrent of abuse from residents at her apartment complex. “We will not allow you in the building.”

In some cities, health-care workers are earning standing ovations for the long, life-risking hours they’re putting in to battle the coronavirus. But in others, they’re facing discrimination and even attacks. (Read more from “As Coronavirus Fears Grow, Doctors and Nurses Face Abuse, Attacks” HERE)

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NSW Nurses Told Not Wear Scrubs Outside of Hospital Due to Abuse Over Coronavirus Fears

By ABC News. Nurses and midwives across NSW are being told to not wear their scrubs outside hospital in the wake of several healthcare workers reporting being assaulted and spat on by members of the public.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard today lambasted the “unacceptable” behaviour of people who abused medical professionals because they believed they were spreading coronavirus. . .

The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NMA) reported workers were being told by hospital administrators to not wear their uniforms to work after a spate of incidents.

One intensive care nurse at Royal North Shore hospital, the NMA said, was assaulted after boarding a train while wearing her scrubs, while another was screamed at in Coles when she stopped on her way home to get dinner. (Read more from “NSW Nurses Told Not Wear Scrubs Outside of Hospital Due to Abuse Over Coronavirus Fears” HERE)

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